Your Pro Farmer newsletter (February 10, 2024) is now available
USDA’s February crop reports featured mostly negative changes for U.S. ending stocks and global soybean carryover also increased. While the report data failed to provide any bullish surprises, markets have been beaten down hard as funds have piled into aggressive short positions. Conab slashed its Brazilian soybean and corn crop estimates, but USDA remained woefully behind, which influences the export outlook. USDA’s initial farm income forecast for 2024 was gloomy, projecting another year of sharp declines. Agriculture posted a trade deficit in December, though pork exports were strong, and finished the first quarter of fiscal year 2024 with red ink. That’s not good news since the first quarter of the fiscal year is typically the strongest for ag exports. Meanwhile, deflationary concerns continue to mount in China as consumer prices fell the most since September 2009 and producer prices contracted for a 16th straight month. Those deflationary pressures could lead to global economic woes and cause central banks to cut interest rates. We cover all of these items and much more in this week’s newsletter, which you can download here.
